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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29386329">Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/needles/pseuds/needles'>needles</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bokuaka Detective drabbles [29]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Haikyuu!!</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, This one is a little sad</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 07:48:06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,126</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29386329</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/needles/pseuds/needles</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." So wrote L P Hartley in his novel The Go-Between.<br/>But sometimes the past is closer to home than you think.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Akaashi Keiji/Bokuto Koutarou</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Bokuaka Detective drabbles [29]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2116251</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Earth to Earth, Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Keiji opened the box carefully, almost reverently, and began to remove the bones within. He laid them out on his table in the standard pattern for examination and mentally noted that only one or two of the smaller bones were missing. If remains could be said to be in good condition then these were.</p>
<p>He took out the small bags also contained within the box. Artefacts found with the body that may aid in its identification. He placed them carefully to one side and then began to study the notes that came with the remains.</p>
<p>They were believed to be male and possibly dating to the time of the conflict in Kosovo. That name made him pause, remembering his partner’s involvement in that same conflict. There were no dog tags but the items found with the body suggested American origin. He looked at the corroded wristwatch and handful of buckles clasps and buttons contained in the bags. They had been found in an unmarked grave by a farmer in a remote village and recovered by the UN.</p>
<p>He put down the file and began his examination. Male? Yes, quite clearly. Age? He checked the epiphyses and the dentition, mid-twenties. Race? Caucasian. Cause of death? Prime suspect was the clear bullet hole in the back of the skull. That was the easy part. Now for identification.</p>
<p>He began his examination of each bone in turn, noting injuries, both pre-mortem and peri-mortem. There were also a few breaks that were clearly post-mortem. Probably the result of the farmer’s tools. Keiji catalogued each meticulously on his chart. The pre mortem injuries in particular may help identify him. Two old, healed rib fractures, traces of a broken wrist probably from childhood, and a healed break to the scapula. All useful to narrow down the possibilities.</p>
<p>The skull told a more violent story, broken nasal bones, broken mandible, broken zygomatic. All peri-mortem. Whoever he was someone had beaten him about the face just before he died. And then, he turned the skull carefully in his hands, they had put a bullet through his brain. From behind. An execution. Keiji had seen enough cases from Guatemala to recognise the signs. </p>
<p>He carefully reassembled the broken facial bones and once the glue had dried he carried it through to Yukie. He gave her the sex, age and racial characteristics and left the artist to her work, returning to the remains to complete his report.</p>
<p>He was putting the final touches to the list of injuries when a cough from the doorway made him look up.</p>
<p>“Bokuto san, why are you here? Do we have a case?”</p>
<p>“No Akaashi but it’s lunchtime and you know you won’t eat if I don’t drag you away from your bones. Who’s the lucky lady today?” he glanced at the headless remains on the table.</p>
<p>“It’s male Bokuto san, and I don’t know yet, Yukie is still working on the reconstruction.”</p>
<p>“Do these go with the remains?” Bokuto held up the bags squinting at the contents.</p>
<p>“Yes. Does any of it mean anything to you, artefacts are not my forte.”</p>
<p>He looked at the bags again. “These look like they could have come from military kit, was he a soldier Akaashi?”</p>
<p>“Quite possibly.”</p>
<p>“This watch is fairly recent though, not WWII?”</p>
<p>“No, Kosovo.”</p>
<p>His eyes widened, “Kosovo?” he breathed.</p>
<p>“Yes, I’m sorry, would you rather leave?”</p>
<p>Bokuto shook his head. “No. No I’m fine. How did he die?”</p>
<p>“A single gunshot to the back of the skull.”</p>
<p>“Then that explains these.” Bokuto held up a bag the contents of which had been puzzling Keiji.</p>
<p>“What are those?”</p>
<p>“Cable ties; used as makeshift handcuffs. He will have had his hands tied with these, been forced to kneel, and then shot in the back of the head.”</p>
<p>“Who by?”</p>
<p>“Not us that’s for sure. Any one of the Serbian or KLA militia groups we were up against.”</p>
<p>There was a knock on the doorframe, they turned and Yukie stood there. “I have a face for you Akaashi, the computer is running it through the missing persons databases now.” She handed over a sketch in pencil and replaced the skull with the rest of the bones. </p>
<p>Keiji looked at the drawing and nodded. “Yes that would be a good fit for the bone structure. He was good looking. Bokuto san?” Keiji passed him the sketch and both he and Yukie saw his face blanch a little.</p>
<p>“Bokuto san, are you alright? Did you know him?” Keiji asked gently.</p>
<p>He nodded. “Sgt Michael Hardy. <em>‘Kiss me’</em>.”</p>
<p>“I beg your pardon Bokuto san?”</p>
<p><em>“'Kiss me'</em>. That was his nickname Akaashi, as in ‘Kiss me Hardy’, Nelson’s last words. Michael was gay you see.” He passed Keiji the sketch and sat down, looking at the bones, pensively. “Mike was one of the best soldiers I ever met, tough as steel, being gay didn’t make him soft. He used to joke that having to defend himself so often as a teenager had made him tougher than all the straight guys put together. I never thought to see him again.” </p>
<p>“What happened to him?”</p>
<p>“He disappeared on a patrol. We’d had an intelligence report that General Mladic was hiding out in one of the nearby villages, so Mike and three other guys were sent to check the report out. They were just supposed to take a look and come back. They were ambushed. We found three of them. Two were dead, the other badly wounded. He told us a group of men had approached them under the aegis of a white flag. When they got close enough the shooting started. The other two were shot dead straight away, he was badly wounded and as he lay there, only half conscious, he thought he saw them drag Mike away, wounded but alive, before he passed out. It looks like he was right.”</p>
<p>“I’m so sorry Bokuto san,” Keiji laid his hand on his shoulder.</p>
<p>Bokuto sighed. “I’m glad they found him Akaashi. Tell me, did he suffer much? Before he died I mean?” he asked quietly.</p>
<p>“I’m afraid they beat him quite a bit, he has several fractures.” Keiji said.</p>
<p>Bokuto gave a wry smile. “I bet he never told them anything though, not Mike.” He looked up at Keiji, “Akaashi, can you give us a few minutes?”</p>
<p>He nodded. “Of course, Yukie can check the computers and I’ll be in my office when you’re ready.” The two of them made their exit.</p>
<p>Bokuto rose, looked down at his fallen comrade and said a silent prayer. Then he stood to attention and saluted crisply. “Farewell Sarge,” he whispered. Then walked slowly out back into the land of the living and away from the ghosts of his past.</p>
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